From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

Cheers



Dave R
--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

--
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

On 23 Jan 2026 at 16:47:12 GMT, David wrote:

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

FWIW I had 6 or 7 <500MB disks that hadn't been switched on for 10 years or more.

On the data, I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last 10 years I was unlikely to need it at all. I have always kept fairly rigorous backups, so there's a hope there that anything useful has been caught in the backup
regime.

On the disposal, I drilled a couple of holes through them all with a carbide bit (although they were pretty 'soft') and took them to Curry's for recycling (or whatever it is that they do with them).
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

In article <mthn0gFdf34U7@mid.individual.net>, wibble@btinternet.com
says...

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

...

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

I've decided I can make do with just the following:
*] Main PC
*] Main laptop/Tablet/Surface thingy
*] That expensive laptop I've actually hardly used in the last ten years
and can't bear to throw out.
*] Microserver
*] That old box running Windows 98 if it still goes
*] An old Dell useful for data recovery from IDE drives
*] A once Win-7 Dell (i5) that I'll oneday probably never try Linux on
*] A once Win-7 Dell (i3) that I'll probably never try ChromeOS on
That should be enough.

So last week I went to the tip with:
*] An old laptop
*] A u/s printer
*] A u/s monitor
*] Fifteen desktop computers of various vintages

That leaves only eight more desktop boxes to harvest and scrap, and
about a dozen old laptops.

There are places in my house now I haven't be able to go for years!
--
--
Phil, London
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

They sell them as working brand new drives.

Those tossers advertised a Corsair 1000w "shift" psu on their site and I bought one to collect at their store and set out in the wind and the rain on
a night of a storm got there with my partner and when they put it on the counter I said "that's not a shift" that's an ordinary 1000w psu (it was
black friday) they tried to tell me it was but it clearly was not (confirmed by corsair) they wouldn't even pay me -u20 in compo for our burger king meal for 2 as all they offered was 15 quid miserable pricks...it was too late
when we got home to start cooking and this tosser phoned me and offered me
15 quid compo I said " the very least you can do is pay for our dinner" he went to ask someone then came back and refused. Why am I telling you
this....I have no idea it just seemed a good idea at the time!

brain bleed boy.





"RJH" wrote in message news:10l0e87$4qga$1@dont-email.me...

On 23 Jan 2026 at 16:47:12 GMT, David wrote:

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account
information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

FWIW I had 6 or 7 <500MB disks that hadn't been switched on for 10 years or more.

On the data, I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last 10 years I was unlikely to need it at all. I have always kept fairly rigorous backups, so there's a hope there that anything useful has been caught in the backup
regime.

On the disposal, I drilled a couple of holes through them all with a carbide bit (although they were pretty 'soft') and took them to Curry's for
recycling
(or whatever it is that they do with them).
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

ccleaner/tools/choose the option to write zeros 3 times onto the drive

"David" wrote in message news:mthn0gFdf34U7@mid.individual.net...

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

Cheers



Dave R
--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

drive wiper its called you get the option to do 1, 3,7, or 35 times

"Ginchy" wrote in message news:10l325l$10tvj$1@dont-email.me...

ccleaner/tools/choose the option to write zeros 3 times onto the drive

"David" wrote in message news:mthn0gFdf34U7@mid.individual.net...

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

Cheers



Dave R
--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

On Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:22:00 +0000, RJH wrote:

On 23 Jan 2026 at 16:47:12 GMT, David wrote:

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account
information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

FWIW I had 6 or 7 <500MB disks that hadn't been switched on for 10 years
or more.

On the data, I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last 10 years I
was unlikely to need it at all. I have always kept fairly rigorous
backups, so there's a hope there that anything useful has been caught in
the backup regime.

On the disposal, I drilled a couple of holes through them all with a
carbide bit (although they were pretty 'soft') and took them to Curry's
for recycling (or whatever it is that they do with them).

Sounds like a plan.
Although I would take them to the local Recycling Centre (Tip) as it is
far closer than the nearest Currys.

Cheers



Dave R
--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

On 23/01/2026 16:47, David wrote:

I am finally clearing out some of my old kit.

Hard rives around the 160Gb size, for example.
So comparable to a -u10 SDHC card.

Is there a sensible way to format them clean?
Do people still trawl through old HDDs to try and find account information?

Or is putting a hammer through it the easiest/safest way?

I have gone past trying to save interesting and useful components.
My hoard of technical obsolete crap is going to be reduced!

YOUTUBE DEF CON 23 - Zoz - And That's How I Lost My Other
Eye...Explorations in Data Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bpX8YvNg6Y
--
Adrian C
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